Project description
Giving voice to the Amazon’s inhabitants
The Amazon rainforest is the Earth’s largest tropical forest and has the highest density of plant and animal species anywhere in the world. For centuries, information about the Amazon has been disseminated via mythology, folk tales, songs, essays and literature as well as travel writings, cinema and the arts. The EU-funded ECO project will assess how human cultural productions about Amazonia lend a voice to animals and plants. To do this, it will draw on Amazonian thought and the academic field of ecocriticism. Specifically, it will gather and analyse sources that portray Amazonian animals and plants from the beginning of the 20th century onwards. The results of this project will contribute an Amazonian perspective to the environmental humanities.
Objective
Animals and plants feature prominently in cultural productions about the Amazon, testifying to the centrality of the region’s natural environment both for local populations and for the earth’s biosphere. The key hypothesis of ECO is that texts (broadly understood to include mythology, folk tales, the lyrics of songs, essays, literature, travel writings, etc.), cinema and art about this area highlight the ways in which non-human beings dynamically shape human cultural life. The project’s main challenge is to resort both to Amazonian thought and to the academic field of ecocriticism to assess how human cultural productions about Amazonia lend a voice to animals and plants. ECO develops the concept of zoophytography to describe the inscription of non-humans in texts, films and artworks, thus decentering humanity as the sole source of meaning-making.
Research stream I. “Amazonian Zoophytography” formulates a definition of this notion and traces its roots to Indigenous and riverine epistemologies and to Western philosophy. Through archival research, ECO will then gather and analyze sources that portray Amazonian animals and plants from the beginning of the twentieth century onwards in two other research streams: II. “Animal Talk: Zoography Spelled Out” focuses on the articulation of animals in cultural productions about the Amazon; III. “Flora’s Voice: Phytographic Conversations” analyzes plant inscription in texts, cinema and artworks that question the role of vegetal life as a passive form of existence.
ECO will make a significant contribution to the environmental humanities, offering an Amazonian perspective on ecocriticism, environmental philosophy and post-colonial studies. By creating a deeper understanding of conceptions of Amazonian fauna and flora, the project will reveal the interdependence of humans and non-humans, draw attention to environmental degradation in Amazonia and uncover more equitable views on animals and plants from the region.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion philosophy epistemology
- humanities arts modern and contemporary art cinematography
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 995 COIMBRA
Portugal
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.